Legibility of selected content

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for enlarging selectable content. Content that includes selectable items is displayed on a display device through a user interface. When an item is selected, the item is enlarged such that the selected item is more easily viewed. If the item includes text, the text is more legible because it has been enlarged. Other items included in the content that are not currently selected are not enlarged or modified. When a new item is selected, the new item is enlarged and the previously selected item returns to an unselected size and is no longer enlarged.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to improving the legibility of content ina user interface. More particularly, the present invention relates tosystems, methods, and computer program products for improving thelegibility of a user interface by selectively enlarging portions of theuser interface or by enlarging selected content in the user interface.

2. Background and Relevant Art

When the Internet was initially created, it was only accessible fromcomputers in a strict sense and relatively few people had the ability toaccess the Internet. The Internet, however, has changed drastically andtoday, the Internet is accessible from a myriad of other devices such aspersonal digital assistants, Internet appliances, and cellulartelephones. The Internet is also accessible using a set top boxconnected with a television set instead of a computer monitor.

In spite of this growth, the Internet still presents some problems thatneed to be solved. One of the problems faced by users and web page orcontent designers is that the same content is ultimately displayed onmany different display devices. Most web pages, for example, areintended for display on a computer monitor that has known resolutions(such as 640×480 or 600×800, for example). Many of the other displaydevices, unfortunately, have vastly different display capabilities.Because the resolutions and display capabilities of other devices aredifferent from the resolution and display capabilities of a computermonitor, displaying the same web pages on other display devices isproblematic and inconvenient.

For example, a particular web page, when displayed on a computermonitor, may only require the user to scroll in the vertical direction.Internet users are typically accustomed to scrolling in a verticaldirection and are most likely not concerned or bothered by thisrequirement. The same web page, when displayed on a television that hasless resolution than a computer monitor, will likely require the user toscroll in a horizontal direction in addition to the vertical direction.

This is often viewed as undesirable from the perspective of both theuser and the content designer for several reasons. Requiring the user toscroll in both directions makes some web pages more difficult to read.The user may be required to repeatedly scroll back and forthhorizontally in order to read lines of text. In contrast with a web pagethat only requires vertical scrolling, a user is able to read many linesof text before scrolling vertically. In addition, many users are notaccustomed to scrolling in a horizontal direction and prefer to scrollin the vertical direction.

This problem has been partially solved by resizing or reformattingcontent such as a web page before it is displayed on a display devicesuch as a television set. Resizing the content is often performed by aproxy server, but may also be performed by the set top box or by anotherdevice. Even though this may remove the problems associated withhorizontal scrolling, resizing or reformatting content introducesanother problem that is related to the legibility of the content or ofthe web page.

When the images, text, selectable text, and other content of a web pageare resized such that they may be displayed, for example, on atelevision set without requiring the user to scroll horizontally, someof the content often becomes difficult to view or read because it is hasbeen resized. In particular, content such as images that contain text aspart of the image may be difficult to read because the text has beenmade smaller or has become irregularly shaped. This often occurs becausetext that is part of an image, for example, is not recognized as textduring the resizing process. Textual characteristics are therefore notaccounted for as the image is resized. While the image as a whole may berecognizable, the text portion of the image may have changed such thatit is more difficult to view and/or read. Thus, the legibility of thecontent or of the web page or of the user interface suffers when thecontent is resized to accommodate a particular display device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention recognizes the limitations of the prior art andthe need for systems, methods, and computer program products that areable to improve the legibility of a user interface or of selectedcontent displayed in the user interface. Improved legibility andreadability of the user interface is achieved by enlarging selectableportions or items of the content displayed in the user interface.

When a user interface is initially presented to the user or when a webpage is initially loaded by a set top box, an item or a portion of thecontent displayed in the user interface is usually selected oridentified by, for example, placing the cursor on the item such that theuser can activate the selected item without having to move the cursor tothat item. The item or content that is initially selected is enlarged,which provides the advantage of making the item or content more easilyviewed by the user. The selected item is also more legible because it islarger. Alternatively, when a user interface is initially presented tothe user, none of the content is enlarged until the user takes someaction, such as selecting an item or moving the cursor. When an item isselected, the rest of the content in the user interface is unaffectedand is not enlarged.

When the user decides to select a new item, the cursor or other visualindicator that identifies the selected content is moved by the user to anew selection. The newly selected item or content is enlarged and theold item that was previously selected returns to the size it had beforeit was enlarged. When an item is near the edge of the user interface andenlarging the item would otherwise require the user to scroll in orderto view the selected and enlarged item, that item is repositioned suchthat scrolling is not required.

In some situations, the item is sufficiently large such that noenlargement is required. Thus, parameters or conditions can be set thatdetermine when an item is to be enlarged. For example, items that arelarger than a predetermined size may not require enlargement in order tobe legibly viewed. Alternatively, the size of the selected item maydetermine the factor by which the selected item is enlarged.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment for implementing the presentinvention;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram that illustrates a screenshot of a web pageor a user interface that has not been resized and that requires a userto scroll both horizontally and vertically in order to view all of thecontent on the web page;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram that illustrates a screen shot of a web pageor a user interface that has been resized such that horizontal scrollingis no longer required;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a screenshot of a web page or auser interface where an item is selected, but not enlarged;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram that illustrates the same web page or userinterface of FIG. 3A, but the selected item has been enlarged;

FIG. 3C is a block diagram illustrating the same web page or userinterface of FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, but a new item or content has beenselected and enlarged; and

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system that provides a suitableoperating environment for the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Television, interactive television, web surfing, computer programs, andother activities usually have a user interface through which data orcontent is presented to a user. In fact, a user interface is animportant aspect of these kinds of applications. As previouslymentioned, one of the problems encountered by users is that content isnot displayed equally on different devices. In particular, screenlegibility on televisions is often difficult because some bitmaps or webpages are resized in order to accommodate the resolution of atelevision, which is usually lower than the resolution of a computermonitor, for example.

Resizing a bitmap or a web page decreases the ability of the user toview the content. For instance, the legibility of text is reduced insome instances. The present invention is directed to improving thelegibility of the user interface. This is accomplished by enlarging thecontextually relevant portion of the user interface. More particularly,the portion of the user interface that is currently selected is enlargedsuch that the current selection or text that is part of the currentselection is enlarged and more easily viewed, which results in increasedlegibility.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment forimplementing the present invention. FIG. 1 illustrates a set top box 100that is capable of receiving content from a source such as the Internet114 either directly or through a proxy server 106. The set top box 100is also able to receive content from other sources, including but notlimited to, satellite systems and cable television systems. The set topbox 100 is an example of a variety of different processing devices thatare capable of receiving content from various sources. Exemplary set topboxes include, but are not limited to, Internet terminals, cable boxes,satellite receivers, digital video recorders, computers, Internet settop boxes, and the like or any combination thereof.

The content received by the set top box 100 includes, but is not limitedto, programming content including television programs, program guidedata for use with the programming content, streaming video/audio, imagedata, text data, web pages, and the like and any combination thereof.

The set top box 100 is typically connected with a display device 104,which may be a separate display device such as a television set or acomputer monitor or is integrated with the set top box 100. When the settop box 100 interacts with the Internet 114 directly, the web page 112is retrieved by the set top box 100 and displayed on the display device104. As previously stated, the design of the web page 112 may not becompatible with the display device 104 and as a result, the web page 112may not display in a manner that is convenient for the user. Forexample, the user may be required to scroll the displayed web page inboth horizontal and vertical directions in order to fully view the webpage 112. Similarly, the web page 110 that is retrieved through a proxyserver 106 may be treated in a similar manner and may not be displayedas desired.

In other words, many web pages are designed for display on a computermonitor, which has higher resolution than most television sets. As aresult, web pages that only require the user to scroll in the verticaldirection when viewed on a computer monitor may require the user toscroll the web page in both the horizontal and vertical directions whenviewed on a television set.

To alleviate this problem, the proxy server 106 has a resizer 108 and/orthe set top box 100 has a resizer 102. The resizers 108 and 102 scale orresize the web page on the display device 104 such that only verticalscrolling, if necessary, is required. In other words, the web pages 112or 110 are effectively scaled in a horizontal direction in order toeliminate the need to horizontally scroll the web page. By scaling orresizing web pages in this manner, the user experience is similarregardless of whether the user is viewing web pages on a computermonitor or on a television set. In some instances, the web pages willalso be scaled vertically.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrates more specifically the function of theresizers 102 and 108. FIG. 2A illustrates a screen shot of a web pagedisplayed, for example, on a display device such as a television screenwithout resizing the web page. In this example, a scroll bar 222 isprovided to the user and indicates that the web page may be scrolled ina vertical direction. This indicates that there is content that the usercannot presently view on the display device. By scrolling vertically,the unseen content will be displayed.

FIG. 2A also illustrates a scroll bar 220 that is used to scroll the webpage horizontally. The presence of the scroll bar 220 indicates thatthere is content to the left or right that is not currently displayed.In this example, the image 204 and the text link 208 are only partiallydisplayed in the screen shot 200. The unseen portion of the image 204and the text link 208 is indicated by dashed lines. By horizontallyscrolling the web page, the user will be able to view the entire image204 and the entire text link 208. However, it is possible that the textlink 202 will no longer be completely visible to the user as the userscrolls horizontally. As previously stated, requiring the user to scrollin both a horizontal and vertical direction is usually undesirable.Also, it is understood that other visual cues for scrolling eitherhorizontally and/or vertically may be used in the user interface.

FIG. 2B illustrates a screen shot of the same web page as illustrated inFIG. 2A with the difference that the web page has been scaledhorizontally. In some instances, some vertical scaling may also occur.As indicated by the scroll bar 224, the web page shown in the screenshot 210 illustrates that the web page can be scaled vertically. Theabsence of a horizontal scroll bar indicates that the web page cannot bescrolled horizontally. This results in a more uniform experience for theuser as most users are unaccustomed to scrolling horizontally andvertical scrolling is more convenient for the user.

FIG. 2B also illustrates one effect of scaling the web page asdescribed. The text and images that are shown in the screen shot 210 areeffectively compressed or smaller than they were in the original webpage of FIG. 2A in order to eliminate the need to scroll horizontally.This scaling or compression can result in some of the content such astext or other data becoming less viewable to a user. In the case oftext, the text is often rendered illegible and unreadable. For example,the legibility of normal text can be preserved by increasing the fontsize of the text. The legibility of text included in an image, however,cannot be preserved in this manner because the text is encoded as pixeldata instead of text data. Thus, the font of text that is part of animage cannot be increased like regular text.

In this example, the text link 212 is still viewable and legible to auser. The text 216, which is a portion of the image 214, is no longerclear to a user. As illustrated in FIG. 2Bk the text 216 is hard to viewand/or read. The text link 218 is similarly affected. Because images andtext links are often used to direct the user to other areas of a networkor are used to convey information to a user, it is desirable to haveimages with text and text links that are readable and legible.

FIG. 3A illustrates one example of ensuring that data or content suchas, for example, text links or text that is part of an image becomesviewable, more readable, or more legible to the user. FIG. 3A includes ascreen shot 300 of, for example, a web page that has been resized fordisplay on a display device. The screen shot 300 of a user interfaceillustrates content that includes an image 304, an image 308, and animage 306. The image 304 includes text 305. An image, as used herein,may refer to content that is displayed on the display device andincludes, but is not limited to, a gif image, text, a hyperlink, and thelike or any combination thereof.

As previously stated, the text 305 may be difficult to read or viewbecause it has been resized for display on the display device. In thisexample, a box 302 appears around the borders of the image 304 toindicate that the image 304 is currently selected or that the image 304is the portion of the content that is currently selected. In someinstances, a selectable item is usually selected when the web page isinitially opened and displayed to the user. Alternatively, no item or noportion of the content on the web page is initially selected until someaction is taken by the user. It is understood that other visual cues maybe used to indicate which item or which content is selected. In thisexample, a box 302 is used as described.

FIG. 3B illustrates the screen shot of FIG. 3A with the difference thatthe selected item, which is image 304 in this case, has been enlargedfrom an original size to an enlarged size. The original size isillustrated in FIG. 3A while the enlarged size is shown in FIG. 3B. Theimage 304 can be enlarged according to a predetermined or userselectable factor. In some cases, the factor(s) used to enlarge theselected content vary according to the original size of the selectedcontent. Thus, larger images or content are not enlarged as much assmaller images or content, for example. Because the image 304 isenlarged, the text 305 that is part of the image 304 is similarlyenlarged and becomes more viewable or legible to a user. In one example,the image 304 is displayed in its original size and the scaling factorused to initially scale the image 304 is reversed.

Usually, only the selected item is enlarged. Other content included inthe user interface or in the web page is not enlarged and is usually notdisplaced or affected by the enlarged item. Enlarging the image 304 mayresult in other content being temporarily obscured or covered. In thisexample, the image 308 and the image 306 are only partially viewablewhen the selected image 304 is enlarged, whereas the image 308 and theimage 306 are completely viewable when the image 304 is not selected.However, the image 308 and the image 306 are not affected and will beviewable when another item is selected. The action required to changethe current selection to another selection is typically the sameregardless of whether the next item is obscured in any way, if at all,by the current selection.

FIG. 3C illustrates the same screen shot as FIGS. 3A and 3B. In thiscase, however, the user has selected a new item, which is the image 308in this example. In this, case, the user has moved the box 302 toanother selectable item, or image 308. The image 304 returns to itsunselected or previous size and the image 308 is enlarged by the samefactor as the image 304 was enlarged. Alternatively, the image 308 maybe enlarged by a different factor as previously mentioned. In thisexample, part of the image 304 and the image 306 are now partiallyobscured because the image 308 is enlarged. The selection of the image308 is indicated by the box 302, which surrounds the selected image 308.

The factor by which selected content is enlarged may depend on the sizeof the selected content. Thus, smaller items may be enlarged by a largerfactor, while larger items are enlarged by a smaller factor. In someinstances, the item may not be enlarged if the item is larger than apredetermined size.

In some situations, when an item or selected content is enlarged, partof the selected item may cause the web page to require horizontalscrolling because of the need to accommodate the enlarged item. This canbe avoided by repositioning the enlarged item such that horizontalscrolling is not required. For an enlarged image on the right side ofthe screen shot 312, the enlarged image may be relocated to the left inaddition to being enlarged. For an enlarged image on the left side ofthe screen shot 312, the enlarge image may be relocated to the right inaddition to being enlarged. If an image is near the top or bottom of ascreen shot, the image may be relocated either up or down such that theimage is not scrolled in order to accommodate the enlarged image. Othercontent or items on the web page are not affected the enlarged item isrepositioned in this manner. However, some of the other content may betemporarily obscured while the selected item is enlarged. Alternatively,the other items may be repositioned to accommodate the enlarged itemsuch that no item is obscured by the enlarged item.

The scaling factors used to enlarge selected items can vary according tothe original size of the item. The scaling factors that are employed canbe determined empirically. Alternatively, pre determined factors may beused to scale selected items or content. Because one advantage of thepresent invention is related to text legibility, one approach toenlargement can be related to text size. The following examplesillustrate specific examples of how an image might be enlarged. It isunderstood than other scaling factors may be selected for use inenlarging items on a display device.

For example, text is often rendered in 12 point font. If the size of animage is less that 3 times the size of 12 point font, then that imageshould be enlarged by a factor of 4, for example. Even if the image doesnot contain text, the image will be more viewable. In another example,the style sheet of a particular web page can be consulted to determinethe font size. Using this value, the scaling factor can be betterdetermined. The requirement of actually enlarging the selected item isknown to one of skill in the art. Repositioning an item on a displaydevice is also known to one of skill in the art.

In another example, the scaling factor can be determined according tothe size of the selected image relative to the display area of thescreen. For example, all items that occupy less than ⅛ of the displayarea are enlarged by a factor of 4. All items that occupy between ⅛ and¼ of the display area are enlarged by a factor of 2. Items greater than¼ of the screen are not enlarged. In view of the multiple scalingschemes that can be employed, only a few are discussed for illustrativepurposes. As previously stated, empirical data may determine the optimalscaling factors for any particular image or selected content.

The present invention extends to both methods and systems for improvingthe ability of a user to view selected content. The embodiments of thepresent invention may comprise a special purpose or general-purposecomputer including various computer hardware, as discussed in greaterdetail below.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executableinstructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readablemedia can be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carryor store desired program code means in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as acomputer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed acomputer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions.

FIG. 4 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief,general description of a suitable computing environment in which theinvention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention willbe described in the general context of computer-executable instructions,such as program modules, being executed by computers in networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed in network computing environments with many types of computersystem configurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by local and remote processingdevices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, orby a combination of hardwired or wireless links) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 4, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of aconventional computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a systemmemory 22, and a system bus 23 that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory 22 to the processing unit 21. The system bus23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory busor memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read onlymemory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) 26, containing the basic routines that help transferinformation between elements within the computer 20, such as duringstart-up, may be stored in ROM 24.

The computer 20 may also include a magnetic hard disk drive 27 forreading from and writing to a magnetic hard disk 39, a magnetic diskdrive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29,and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to removableoptical disk 31 such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The magnetichard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, amagnetic disk drive-interface 33, and an optical drive interface 34,respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable mediaprovide nonvolatile storage of computer-executable instructions, datastructures, program modules and other data for the computer 20. Althoughthe exemplary environment described herein employs a magnetic hard disk39, a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31, othertypes of computer readable media for storing data can be used, includingmagnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, and the like.

Program code means comprising one or more program modules may be storedon the hard disk 39, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs36, other program modules 37, and program data 38. A user may entercommands and information into the computer 20 through keyboard 40,pointing device 42, or other input devices (not shown), such as amicrophone, joy stick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, personaldigital assistant or other hand held device, infra red or radiofrequency remote control, or the like. These and other input devices areoften connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial portinterface 46 coupled to system bus 23. Alternatively, the input devicesmay be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a gameport or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or another displaydevice is also connected to system bus 23 via an interface, such asvideo adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personal computerstypically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such asspeakers and printers.

The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers 49a and 49 b. Remote computers 49 a and 49 b may each be another personalcomputer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or othercommon network node, and typically include many or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the computer 20, although only memorystorage devices 50 a and 50 b and their associated application programs36 a and 36 b have been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide areanetwork (WAN) 52 that are presented here by way of example and notlimitation. Such networking environments are commonplace in office-wideor enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 20 is connectedto the local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. Whenused in a WAN networking environment, the computer 20 may include amodem 54, a wireless link, or other means for establishingcommunications over the wide area network 52, such as the Internet. Themodem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the systembus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment,program modules depicted relative to the computer 20, or portionsthereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing communications over wide area network 52 may beused.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. In a system that receives content either directly from a source orthrough a proxy server, a method for displaying the content to a user ifthe content has been resized such that some of the content is renderedless viewable to a user than content that has not been resized, themethod comprising: selecting a portion of the resized content that isdisplayed to the user in the user interface; enlarging the selectedportion of the resized content without enlarging other portions of theresized content, wherein enlarging the selected portion of the resizedcontent comprises enlarging the selected portion of the resized contentonly if the selected portion of the resized content is smaller than apredetermined size; and displaying the enlarged portion of the resizedcontent to the user in the user interface, wherein the remaining resizedcontent is not affected by displaying the enlarged portion of thecontent.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein selecting a portionof the resized content that is displayed to the user in the userinterface further comprises displaying the resized content with aninitial portion of the resized content already being selected andenlarged.
 3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:selecting a new portion of resized content; enlarging the new portion ofresized content, wherein other portions of the resized content are notenlarged; and returning the previously selected portion of resizedcontent to a previous size.
 4. A method as defined in claim 1, whereindisplaying the enlarged portion of the resized content in the userinterface further comprises obscuring other portions of the resizedcontent without affecting the other portions of the resized content,wherein the obscured portions of the resized content are no longerobscured when a new portion of the resized content is selected.
 5. Amethod as defined in claim 1, wherein displaying the enlarged portion ofthe resized content in the user interface further comprisesrepositioning the enlarged portion of the resized content if enlargingthe selected portion of the resized content would require the user toscroll either horizontally or vertically.
 6. A method as defined inclaim 1, wherein the portion of the resized content includes text,enlarging the selected portion of the resized content such that the textis more legible.
 7. In a system that receives content from a network,wherein the content includes one or more selectable items and whereinthe content is resized before being displayed to a user, and whereinsome of the one or more selectable items are rendered less legibleduring the resizing process, a method for enlarging an item of theresized content, the method comprising: selecting an item that isincluded in the resized content, wherein a visual indicator identifiesthe selected item to a user; enlarging the selected item according to apredetermined factor if an original size of the selected item is lessthan a predetermined size, wherein the selected item is not enlarged ifthe original size of the item is greater than the predetermined size;and displaying the enlarged item on a display device with the otheritems, wherein the other items displayed the display device are notenlarged.
 8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein selecting an itemthat is included in the resized content further comprises displaying theresized content with the item already selected.
 9. A method as definedin claim 7, wherein enlarging the selected item according to apredetermined factor further comprises using a different factoraccording to the size of the selected item.
 10. A method as defined inclaim 9, wherein smaller items are enlarged by a greater factor thanlarger items.
 11. A method as defined in claim 7, further comprising:selecting a new item included in the resized content; enlarging the newitem, wherein other items included in the resized content are notenlarged; and returning the previously selected item of the resizedcontent to the original size.
 12. A method as defined in claim 7,wherein displaying the enlarged item of the resized content in the userinterface further comprises repositioning the enlarged item of theresized content if enlarging the selected item would require the user toscroll the displayed content either horizontally or vertically.
 13. Amethod as defined in claim 7, wherein the selected item of the resizedcontent includes text, enlarging the selected item of the resizedcontent such that the text is more legible to a user.
 14. In a systemthat receives content either directly from a source or through a proxyserver, a method for displaying the content to a user if the content hasbeen resized such that text included in the content is rendered lesslegible when the content is resized, the method comprising: initiallydisplaying the content to a user, wherein an item included in thecontent is already selected; enlarging the selected item by apredetermined factor to an enlarged size from an original size withoutenlarging other items included in the content, wherein the enlarged itempartially obscures some of the other items included in the content;displaying the enlarged item without requiring the user to scrollhorizontally in order to view both the displayed content and theenlarged item; and when a new item is selected by the user, returningthe previously selected item to the original size, wherein the newlyselected item is enlarged by a predetermined factor.
 15. A method asdefined in claim 14, wherein enlarging the selected item by apredetermined factor to an enlarged size from an original size furthercomprises enlarging the selected item by a predetermined factor that isdependent on the original size of the selected item, wherein theselected item is not enlarged if the original size is greater than apredetermined size.
 16. A method as defined in claim 14, whereindisplaying the enlarged item without requiring the user to scrollhorizontally in order to view the displayed content and the enlargeditem further comprises repositioning the enlarged item in a userinterface.
 17. A computer program product having computer executableinstructions for performing the method of claim
 14. 18. In a system thatreceives content either directly from a source or through a proxyserver, a computer program product for implementing a method fordisplaying the content to a user if the content has been resized suchthat some of the content is rendered less legible when the content isresized, the computer program product comprising: a computer readablemedium having computer executable instructions for performing themethod, the method comprising selecting a portion of the resized contentthat is displayed to the user in the user interface; enlarging theselected portion of the resized content without enlarging other portionsof the resized content, wherein enlarging the selected portion of theresized content comprises enlarging the selected portion of the resizedcontent only if the selected portion of the resized content is smallerthan a predetermined size; and displaying the enlarged portion of theresized content to the user in the user interface, wherein the remainingresized content is not affected by displaying the enlarged portion ofthe content.
 19. A computer program product as defined in claim 18,wherein selecting a portion of the resized content that is displayed tothe user in the user interface further comprises displaying the resizedcontent with an initial portion of the resized content already beingselected and enlarged.
 20. A computer program product as defined inclaim 18, further comprising: selecting a new portion of resizedcontent; enlarging the new portion of resized content, wherein otherportions of the resized content are not enlarged; and returning thepreviously selected portion of resized content to a previous size.
 21. Acomputer program product as defined in claim 18, wherein displaying theenlarged portion of the resized content in the user interface furthercomprises obscuring some portions of the resized content withoutaffecting those portions of the resized content, wherein the obscuredportions of the resized content are no longer obscured when a newportion of the resized content is selected.
 22. A computer programproduct as defined in claim 18, wherein displaying the enlarged portionof the resized content in the user interface further comprisesrepositioning the enlarged portion of the resized content if enlargingthe selected portion of the resized content would require the user toscroll either horizontally or vertically.
 23. In a system that receivescontent from a network, wherein the content includes one or moreselectable items and wherein the content is resized before beingdisplayed to a user, and wherein some of the one or more selectableitems are rendered less legible during the resizing process, a computerprogram product for implementing a method for enlarging an item of theresized content, the computer program product comprising: a computerreadable medium having computer executable instructions for performingthe method, the method comprising: selecting an item that is included inthe resized content, wherein a visual indicator identifies the selecteditem to a user; enlarging the selected item according to a predeterminedfactor if an original size of the selected item is less than apredetermined size, wherein the selected item is not enlarged if thesize of the item is greater than the predetermined size; and displayingthe enlarged item on a display device with the other items, wherein theother items displayed the display device are not enlarged.
 24. Acomputer program product as defined in claim 23, wherein selecting anitem that is included in the resized content further comprisesdisplaying the resized content with the item already selected.
 25. Acomputer program product as defined in claim 23, wherein enlarging theselected item according to a predetermined factor further comprisesusing a different factor according to the size of the selected item. 26.A computer program product as defined in claim 23, further comprising:selecting a new item included in the resized content; enlarging the newitem, wherein other items included in the resized content are notenlarged; and returning the previously selected item of the resizedcontent to the original size.
 27. A computer program product as definedin claim 23, wherein displaying the enlarged item of the resized contentin the user interface further comprises repositioning the enlarged itemof the resized content if enlarging the selected item would require theuser to scroll the displayed content either horizontally or vertically.